Issues & Positions
- Health Care
- Audism
- Captioning and Video Accessibility
- Cochlear Implants
- Deaf Culture vs. Medicalization
- Definition of “Deaf”
- Diversity
- Education
- Employment and Employability
- Human Rights
- Immigration & Medical Admissibility
- Income Tax, Custom Duties & Postage Rules
- International Concerns
- Interpreting
- Language
- Literacy
- Official Languages
- Physician-Assisted Suicide / Physician-Assisted Dying
- Political Participation and Activity
- Seniors
- Social Security and Assistance
- Statistics on Deaf Canadians
- Technology & Technical Issues
- Telecommunications
- Terminology
- Transportation
- Universal Design
- Universal Symbols of Access
- Youth
Technology & Technical Issues
The issue
Technology and technical devices are being developed by hearing people for Deaf people which are not effective, successful, or popular among the Deaf.
CAD's position
Technology that empowers the Deaf usually can only come from Deaf people; funders, regulators, governments and businesses should be wary of supporting technology which disempowers the Deaf.
In recent years there has been an enormous growth in new technology and technical devices intended to "help" Deaf people. Yet, some of this technology has been rejected by the Deaf or has failed to meet their real needs and desires.
Technology can be divided into two categories: that which empowers and enables those who use it, and that which empowers and enables those who develop and control it.
Devices such as TTYs and flashing alarms empower and enable Deaf people. These devices allow them to live independent lives and to function effectively in both the hearing and the Deaf worlds. Not coincidentally, most of these kinds of devices have been developed and/or controlled by Deaf people and organizations. As an example, it was a Deaf man named Robert Weitbrecht who invented the acoustic coupler that enables us to access the telephone system.
Devices such as cochlear implants disempower and disable Deaf people. Such devices are the brainchildren of hearing technicians who consider deafness a medical calamity that must be "cured" by any means. No Deaf participation in the development or evaluation of these devices is either sought or welcomed. The technicians do not consider themselves accountable to the very constituency that they believe they are "serving". It is not a mere coincidence that such devices usually are rejected by Deaf people.
Some technology falls between the two classes. An example is IBM's PhoneCommunicator, developed in the late 1980s and now discontinued. Deaf input is to be found in some of the excellent features of this program, such as its ability to respond to both voice and TTY calls, which make the device attractive to the Deaf market. The ultimate commercial failure of the PhoneCommunicator can be largely traced to features where the hearing technicians and marketing people ignored Deaf input, such as the inflexibility of the auto answer messages, the fixed use of the disliked "hearing impaired" term, and the unrealistic price of $700 which failed to consider the low income and employment levels of Deaf people.
It is noteworthy that the second class of devices ‑‑ that which empowers the developers rather than the users ‑‑ always remains in the control of hearing professionals whose livelihood is often based upon "serving" the Deaf, such as audiologists, medical personnel, speech‑language pathologists and therapists, hearing‑aid salespersons, and educators. Dr. Harlan Lane, in his book The Mask of Benevolence (1992), estimated that this "audist establishment" controls a market worth two billion dollars (American) annually. It is not surprising that they strive to maintain control over the consumers of their services.
The overall goal of the "audist establishment" is to change Deaf people from their natural selves into "fake hearing" or "fake hard of hearing" people. This is another aspect of the disempowering of Deaf people. Deaf people can only succeed when they are allowed to be Deaf people, rather than forced into pretending to be something they are not and can never be.
The Canadian Association of the Deaf urges that support be given to technological proposals and developments which favour the empowerment and participation of Deaf people as Deaf people.
approved: 17th July 2002
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
The Canadian Association of the Deaf
303- 251 Bank Street
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1X3
(613)565-2882 Voice/TTY
(613)565-1207 Fax
www.cad.ca
The issue
Technology and technical devices are being developed by hearing people for Deaf people which are not effective, successful, or popular among the Deaf.
CAD's position
Technology that empowers the Deaf usually can only come from Deaf people; funders, regulators, governments and businesses should be wary of supporting technology which disempowers the Deaf.
In recent years there has been an enormous growth in new technology and technical devices intended to "help" Deaf people. Yet, some of this technology has been rejected by the Deaf or has failed to meet their real needs and desires.
Technology can be divided into two categories: that which empowers and enables those who use it, and that which empowers and enables those who develop and control it.
Devices such as TTYs and flashing alarms empower and enable Deaf people. These devices allow them to live independent lives and to function effectively in both the hearing and the Deaf worlds. Not coincidentally, most of these kinds of devices have been developed and/or controlled by Deaf people and organizations. As an example, it was a Deaf man named Robert Weitbrecht who invented the acoustic coupler that enables us to access the telephone system.
Devices such as cochlear implants disempower and disable Deaf people. Such devices are the brainchildren of hearing technicians who consider deafness a medical calamity that must be "cured" by any means. No Deaf participation in the development or evaluation of these devices is either sought or welcomed. The technicians do not consider themselves accountable to the very constituency that they believe they are "serving". It is not a mere coincidence that such devices usually are rejected by Deaf people.
Some technology falls between the two classes. An example is IBM's PhoneCommunicator, developed in the late 1980s and now discontinued. Deaf input is to be found in some of the excellent features of this program, such as its ability to respond to both voice and TTY calls, which make the device attractive to the Deaf market. The ultimate commercial failure of the PhoneCommunicator can be largely traced to features where the hearing technicians and marketing people ignored Deaf input, such as the inflexibility of the auto answer messages, the fixed use of the disliked "hearing impaired" term, and the unrealistic price of $700 which failed to consider the low income and employment levels of Deaf people.
It is noteworthy that the second class of devices ‑‑ that which empowers the developers rather than the users ‑‑ always remains in the control of hearing professionals whose livelihood is often based upon "serving" the Deaf, such as audiologists, medical personnel, speech‑language pathologists and therapists, hearing‑aid salespersons, and educators. Dr. Harlan Lane, in his book The Mask of Benevolence (1992), estimated that this "audist establishment" controls a market worth two billion dollars (American) annually. It is not surprising that they strive to maintain control over the consumers of their services.
The overall goal of the "audist establishment" is to change Deaf people from their natural selves into "fake hearing" or "fake hard of hearing" people. This is another aspect of the disempowering of Deaf people. Deaf people can only succeed when they are allowed to be Deaf people, rather than forced into pretending to be something they are not and can never be.
The Canadian Association of the Deaf urges that support be given to technological proposals and developments which favour the empowerment and participation of Deaf people as Deaf people.
approved: 17th July 2002
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
The Canadian Association of the Deaf
303- 251 Bank Street
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1X3
(613)565-2882 Voice/TTY
(613)565-1207 Fax
www.cad.ca
